


Switched

by JWade



Series: Blind [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Tear Rating: 2/10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 13:15:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13077639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JWade/pseuds/JWade
Summary: At midnight on New Year's after the younger soulmate's 22nd birthday, every set of soulmates switches bodies for half an hour so they can see each other and leave messages to find each other. Gabriel has been waiting for seven long years for his switch to come, but how is he supposed to leave a message when he finds himself blind?





	1. Chapter 1

Gabriel glanced at the clock before he laid down in bed, staring at the ceiling. It was New Year’s Eve and it was almost midnight. He had been doing this for years, but he was starting to lose hope. All the young people and the attached people were out partying the night away, but Gabriel had been waiting since his 22nd New Year for the switch to finally happen. Waiting for the night that he and his soulmate would switch bodies and have a chance to leave each other messages to find each other. He hoped that his soulmate was just younger than him. It was better than the alternative. He was 29 now, and had given himself a limit of 30. If he still hadn’t switched by then, he would give up hope and assume that either he didn’t have a soulmate, or his soulmate had died somehow. It had had been known to happen. 

Gabriel pushed those morose thoughts out of his head. At least for a few minutes. 11:59. It was almost time. Would this be the year? Finally? Gabriel ran through his checklist in his head in the final moments. First, he would leave a note. Then, he would play the pranks. After all, his soulmate would have to be able to take a joke and have a sense of humor. With only half an hour he would be rather limited, but he could still leave a mark. No sooner than that thought crossed his mind, he suddenly found himself sitting at a table and he blinked. And blinked again. He lifted his hands to his eyes to make sure they were open, and they were. His soulmate was blind, and he felt a panic welling up in him. Not because he would be stuck with a blind person. He could handle that. But how on earth was he supposed to leave a legible note when he couldn’t see anything. 

With that thought he found himself patting the body down, relieved when he realized that it was a man at least. It wasn’t often that a soulmate ended up being the ‘wrong’ gender, but it had happened. Gabriel had known he was gay since he was a teenager, so he was very glad to know that had been taken into account. And his soulmate was apparently rather well hung too. He pulled his hand away from the area, not willing to take advantage of him like that as he turned his attention towards formulating a plan. 

He felt around on the table in front of him finding what seemed to be a computer, but he didn’t recognize the layout. He felt the raised bumps that he figured must be braille, but he didn’t know braille. Even if he could see if any kind of typing program was open, he wouldn’t know where to begin. He moved his hands to the sides of the laptop seeing what else he could find. He felt what he was pretty sure was a cell phone, but his hand knocked it to the floor and immediately went on his hands and knees looking for it. If he could maybe call the last number, maybe he could leave a message with someone that could get a message to his soulmate. As long as it wasn’t a telemarketer or something. He didn’t have much luck though. He wasn’t sure how long he had been feeling around down there on the floor, but he was afraid he was running out of time and he was starting to panic. 

Gabriel went to get up, banging his head on the table in the process, and then fell over a chair, feeling it break under him. If he managed to find his soulmate he would definitely have to apologize. Both for the chair and the bruises. And maybe the phone if it got broken in its tumble. He felt frantically around the counters, following them and the walls around the apartment as his heart began to beat so fast he was surprised he’d hadn’t had a heart attack. There had to be something. There had to be a way. He couldn’t just let this go. 

Eventually he found an open door and went through it, feeling around to find himself in a bathroom. If only he hadn’t found it by banging his leg on the toilet. He suddenly lit on an idea and felt his way over to the sink. He managed to find what he assumed was toothpaste and squeeze some out on his fingers. He lifted his fingers to his nose and sniffed. Yep. Toothpaste. He reached up, finding what felt like a mirror and began to write there while his other hand ran over his face, trying to pick up as much as he could about his features, his hair, his body type, anything that might help him recognize this man again. He didn’t know if this would help at all. He had no idea how to translate feel into sight, but it couldn’t hurt. Gabriel hadn’t even finished writing his name yet when he was yanked back to his own body, and he immediately cursed. Please let his soulmate have found a way to leave him a message. If not, he would search through every blind man in the world if he had to, but who knew how long that would take.


	2. Chapter 2

As Sam waited for midnight to come he was getting more than a little jittery. Would he actually have a soulmate? Or was his soulmate younger and nothing would happen this year? He at least hoped that his soulmate was a guy. Unlike his brother who was bisexual, Sam was most definitely gay. He didn’t know if he could be with a woman even if she did turn out to be his soulmate. It wasn’t until there were only five minutes left that it dawned on him that his soulmate probably wouldn’t be blind. He would have no idea how to get around Sam’s house. He went to his computer and pulled up his typing program and left it open. Hopefully he would be able to figure out the keyboard, but just in case…Sam opened his phone and put it next to the computer and had Dean’s number set to dial. Dean would probably be out with his husband Cas celebrating the New Year and not hear his phone, but it was better that way anyway. Then there could be a message for him to get rather than risking Dean forgetting. 

He was as ready as he could be and just in time. He felt a tug and then he gasped. In all his considering how to help his soulmate cope with being blind, it hadn’t dawned on him that he would be able to see. Sam was getting his first look at the world and it was intoxicating. It was…beautiful. It took him a moment to stop looking around and get moving. He had to find a way to leave his soulmate a message. He noticed the pad and pen that were sitting on the bedside table as he sat up. At least they looked like what pads and pens felt like, but he had no idea how to use them and he felt his heart fall heavy as he picked up the objects. It didn’t take him long to figure out how to make the pen write on the pad, but he only knew braille and his soulmate probably wouldn’t understand a series of dots on the page. 

He got up and started looking for another option before he caught sight of himself…his soulmate…in the mirror and he was entranced. He stepped closer, running a hand over the sharp features and through the soft blonde hair. He was beautiful. Of course, this was the first face Sam had ever seen in his life, but he was sure even if he saw every face in the world, this man would be beautiful. He looked into his expressive golden eyes, not that Sam knew what that color was, and he found himself lost. But only for a moment. He pulled his gaze away from the mirror and turned back to his task. He would never forget that glimpse he got of his soulmate though. He would remember that face forever. 

His best option would be to find someone to write something down for him. He went out what he assumed by the locks on it was the front door to find himself in a long hallway. He went to the next door down and knocked on the door, waiting a moment and not getting an answer. He tried a few other apartments and still nothing and he was starting to lose hope. They were all probably either out celebrating the New Year or already sleeping and not willing to answer the door in the middle of the night. Maybe he would have better luck outside, as much as going out there scared the hell out of him. If he couldn’t find anyone, he would have to write it in braille and hope his soulmate could find a way to translate it. 

His heart fell as he stepped into the street to find it deserted. He, once again, found himself rather distracted for a moment as he got his first look at the outside world before he shook himself out of it when he noticed a store on the corner and the lights seemed to be on. Maybe it was open. He rushed in that direction. The store was nearly as deserted but there was an old woman at the counter and Sam rushed over there. “Please. Will you help me? Can you write something for me?” 

“Gabriel? What’s wrong?” The woman asked. 

Sam smiled. Gabriel. Now he had a name. “My name is Gabriel?” he asked. 

“Yes,” she drew out the word confused for a moment before her face lit up with comprehension. “You’re switched?” she asked, and Sam nodded profusely. 

“Please, will you write something for me?” Sam asked frantically. 

One glance at the clock had her pushing all her questions about why he couldn’t do it out of her mind. There wasn’t much time left. She took the pad and paper he was holding out and said, “Okay, I’m ready.”

“Sam Winchester 514 Mystery Lane Lawrence Ka…” he stumbled a bit and felt himself being pulled back to his own body. He just hoped he had gotten her enough.


	3. Chapter 3

The first thing he noticed once he was back in his body were the aches and pains he felt. He assumed that his soulmate had a little trouble getting around. It wasn’t anything he couldn’t deal with though. The second thing he noticed was that his fingers were sticky, and he was standing in his bathroom. He raised his hand slowly to his face and took a tentative sniff, giving a sigh of relief when he realized it was toothpaste. At least his soulmate hadn’t gone THERE when he had control of his body, not that it really felt like that anyway, but it had been his first thought. 

The question remained though, why the toothpaste? Did he get the urge to brush his teeth? And if so, why use his fingers instead of the toothbrush. It took a minute for it to dawn on him what he could have possibly been doing and he reached his other hand up to tentatively pat at the mirror and sure enough. Toothpaste. He must have been trying to leave him a message. Or more like leave someone else a message that could tell Sam. He must have realized that Sam wouldn’t be able to see it. 

Sam made his way back out into the main house to find his phone, stumbling a bit when he encountered something foreign on the floor and bent to feel what it was. It felt like the remains of a chair. That explained the bumps and bruises. Gabriel had fallen over a chair and broke it. He straightened back up and made his way back over to the table, feeling for the phone that he had left there. His computer was still there and open, but the phone was nowhere to be found, and Sam sat down to consider his next steps. At least he had time to do that now. 

Thankfully, he was far more practiced at figuring out where things had fallen when he knocked them over than Gabriel was. And probably far less panicked as well, he thought with a fond smile. He couldn’t imagine how it must have felt to suddenly be trapped in a body that had lost the primary sense you had counted on for your entire life. It had been unsettling enough for him to have gained it. He turned his attention back to the task at hand as he tried to recreate Gabriel’s likely actions. He probably couldn’t figure out the computer so started feeling around for something else. Sam had placed his phone there, so Sam moved his hand in a search pattern, and figured out a likely trajectory. 

He got out of the chair and on his hands and knees, feeling around for the phone, finding it wedged underneath the counter. It was a good thing that all of his electronics were ruggedized. He did tend to drop things a lot. He pulled out the phone and called his brother’s number. It would be better if he didn’t move around any more than he had to until he figured what all was out of place, so he felt his way back to a chair to sit and wait. 

Luckily, it was late enough at this point that Dean and Cas were either home or on their way home and Dean answered on the second ring. “Hey Dean. Can you come over and help me out a bit?” Sam asked hopefully. 

“Why? What’s wrong?” Dean asked. 

“I switched tonight,” Sam said with a smile. 

“Be right there,” Dean told him and hung up. He didn’t need to know anymore. There was probably a message somewhere that Sam needed a set of eyes to figure out, not to mention probably quite a few things out of place. His brother was, for obvious reasons, rather anal about everything being in exactly the right place and even after all these years, Dean found himself amazed at how well Sam could get around his house without his cane or even feeling around. Watching him in his house you wouldn’t even know he was blind. 

Dean stepped in and looked around with wide eyes. His first sight was the broken chair. “You okay, Sammy?” Dean asked. 

“I’m fine. Just a few bruises. Nothing to worry about,” Sam assured him, knowing that Dean would have seen the chair. Dean nodded and continued looking around. Everything on the counters looked like it had been shoved around. Not really surprising assuming Sam’s soulmate could usually see. There was a lamp knocked down and broken. Dean’s perusal was cut short when Sam said, “Bathroom.”

Dean stepped into the bathroom and almost laughed at the scrawl on the mirror in toothpaste. “I’m guessing you want to know what it says?” Dean said and when Sam nodded, he said, “Well it’s kinda hard to make out. Looks like a blind man wrote it,” he joked getting a laugh from Sam. “I think that’s a G then an…A maybe? B R I then just a squiggle and nothing else.”

“Gabriel. He was writing his name,” Sam said as he realized. Dean stuck around for an hour and put everything back into place, cleaning up what was left of the chair and the lamp, promising to get Sam replacements in the next day or two, but Sam just waved him off. He wasn’t particularly worried about. He had a soulmate. He just hoped his soulmate could live with the fact that he was blind and didn’t cut and run.


	4. Chapter 4

The lady at the grocery store had noticed the stumble and the cut off in the middle of the word and assumed that Gabriel was back. He blinked at her for a moment before saying, “Mrs. Jenkins?” 

“Yes, dear. Your soulmate was just here. Had me writing his name and address for you. I didn’t get it all, but I think I got enough. Don’t know why he couldn’t write it himself though,” she wondered. 

“He’s blind. He probably didn’t know how,” Gabriel told her. 

“Oh, the poor dear. That explains why he was looking around at everything in awe,” she said. 

“Did you get his info?” Gabriel asked, trying not to be too impatient. He did love Mrs. Jenkins, but she had a tendency to ramble and go off on tangents. 

“Oh, yes. Of course,” she said handing over the pad and pen. 

Gabriel looked over it a moment. “Lawrence. Lawrence where?” 

“Well he managed to get out Ka before you were back. I would suggest starting with Kansas, or Kentucky, or California, Colorado, Connecticut, and if all else fails maybe Canada. He did seem to speak English well so at least you don’t have that problem,” she told him, patting his hand. “Assuming of course, you want to find him.”

“Of course, I want to find him. Why wouldn’t I want to find him?” Gabriel asked confused as he added ‘k or c’ to the page after Lawrence. 

“Well dear, it’s not easy living with someone who has a disability. I’m sure no one would think less of you if you’d rather not,” she told him gently. 

“That doesn’t matter to me,” Gabriel told her, trying not to take offense at the idea. Whether anyone else would think less of him or not, and he was pretty sure at least some people would despite what she said, and he would definitely think less of himself. The truth was that he was so overjoyed to have a soulmate, he didn’t give a crap what kind of situation he was in. He could be a quadriplegic and Gabriel would be hopping the next plane to see him. So, he was blind. Big deal. He could tell that…Sam. That was his name. Sam was well used to it and coped well, and he could learn to as well. He wasn’t going to let a little thing like that keep him from his soulmate. “Can you tell me anything else about him?” Gabriel asked hopefully. 

“He’s very polite. Even as much of a panic as he was in and as out of place as he seemed, he was still polite. He was here for only a few moments though before you returned,” she told him, feeling bad that she couldn’t give him any more information. 

“Thank you, Mrs. Jenkins. Really,” Gabriel said with a grin before rushing out. He ran back to his apartment and grabbed his computer, pulling up google and typing in the address. He would start with Kansas like she’d suggested. He had at least heard of a Lawrence, Kansas. He grinned when that address did exist there, but just to be sure. He googled Sam Winchester, and found a listing in Lawrence Kansas as well, though it didn’t give the full address. He probably could have found it with a bit more digging, but he didn’t see the need. That was him. It had to be. 

He grabbed his wallet and went to the airline website to buy a plane ticket. The soonest one he could get was at ten am the next morning and the price was a lot higher than he would have liked to pay, but that was the way it was at this time of year. The airlines were always willing to take advantage of people looking for their newfound soulmates. He didn’t hesitate to pay it anyway, and then went to pack a bag. He could hope that he would be moving there permanently, and would be coming back for the rest of his stuff, but he wasn’t going to make assumptions yet, so he just packed for a week. 

It didn’t take long before he was ready to go, and he decided to take a nap before he had to get up and head to the airport. Sleep was a long time coming in his excitement, but he did manage to get a few hours. He had gotten up a little early so he could stop at a bookstore on the way. He walked out with his purchases ‘A Families Guide for Caring for Blind Family Members’, and ‘Planet of the Blind’ which said it was memoirs written by a blind man. He put them in his bag, planning to read them on the plane and made his way to the airport.


	5. Chapter 5

Gabriel spent his time waiting for his flight and on the plane reading and making notes. He mostly just noted the big things like making sure that things stayed in the same place, and arranging plates of food so that they can be read like a clock. It would probably take some time for those things to become second nature, and he felt really bad now about messing up Sam’s house. Hopefully he had someone that could help him set it to rights. A friend or a family member or someone…oh crap. Gabriel was supposed to be meeting his brother for lunch today. Oops. He would call as soon as he landed and make his apologies. He was sure Mike would understand. He should probably make a few more calls too and let people know he was out of town for a bit. At least, as an artist, he didn’t have any kind of work schedule and he always made sure the first week of January was free of commissions or viewings just in case this situation came up, so it was just friends and family he needed to notify. 

He was walking out of the terminal, headed for the bus stop as he pulled out his phone. “Gabriel? Where are you? I’ve been sitting here waiting for over an hour,” Michael’s annoyed voice came from the other end of the phone. 

“I’m sorry, Mikey. I…I switched last night. Hopped a plane first thing this morning and didn’t even think about anything else until I was halfway here,” Gabriel said apologetically. 

“Oh…wow…well…that’s okay then. Let me know how it goes?” 

“I will, Mikey. Thanks,” Gabriel said with a grin, glad that his brother understood. After that he called Anna. She was the biggest gossip of his friends and would make sure the word spread that he was out of town, and probably everything else too. By the time he got to the bus stop, he was putting his phone away. As the bus pulled away from the airport, he could feel his hands starting to clam up. Now that he had nothing to do but think, he found his nerves starting to get the better of him. 

What if Sam didn’t want anything to do with him? No, he wouldn’t have left his information if that was the case. But what if he got mad when he came back to find his stuff all messed up? What if he figured that Gabriel was more trouble than he was worth? What if he sent him away? What if…no. Gabriel shook his head to clear it. There was no point in running through worst case scenarios. He was just getting himself all worked up. What if Sam was as excited to see him as he was to see Sam? Yes. He could go that route, he thought with a smile. It felt like no time at all before he was getting off the bus and walking the last three blocks to the address Sam had given. 

 

Dean had put everything to rights before he left around two AM, and Sam went to bed. He lay there for hours though, just thinking. Planning. Turning things over in his head. All he had was a name and a face though. Gabriel hadn’t managed to leave him much. He was sure that he’d gotten out most of his address to the lady at the store though. Enough for Gabriel to find him. If he wanted to. But what if he didn’t? No, Gabriel wouldn’t have tried so hard to leave him a message if his being blind would stop him. But maybe he hadn’t really considered it? Maybe it wasn’t until he was back in his own body that he had a chance to really think and thought better of it? It had been a long time since Sam was self-conscious about being blind, but this was bringing it all to the forefront again. What if Gabriel didn’t want to deal?

When he finally did fall asleep, he slept rather fitfully, not waking until nearly noon when his hunger would no longer be denied. He made his way to the kitchen and made a sandwich with practiced ease, turning at every slight sound, wondering if it was Gabriel coming for him, before chiding himself. It had only been a day. There was no reason to think that he would drop everything and come here immediately. He probably had a job he had to take time off of. Plans that couldn’t be changed at such short notice. Besides, he would probably try to find Sam’s phone number first. He was listed after all. All that logic didn’t stop his heart from jumping out of his chest in anticipation when he heard the doorbell around three that afternoon though. “Wh-who is it?” he called getting up from the couch as he did. 

“G-Gabriel,” he heard a voice answer and Sam nearly ripped the door open. 

Sam reached out a hand, feeling for who was there, and couldn’t help the soft smile that lit his face as he felt a warm hand wrap around his wrist and lead it to the same face he had felt last night. That he had seen in the mirror. His fingers gently traced over ever line and plane, memorizing them once more as he breathed out, “Gabriel…”

“Hi, Sam,” Gabriel said softly. Hopefully.


	6. Chapter 6

“Come in,” Sam said stepping to the side. 

“I’m putting my bag to the left of the door against the wall. I haven’t stopped by the hotel yet,” Gabriel told him, having read enough to know that just dropping it somewhere without telling Sam would be a bad thing. 

That statement alone was enough to tell Sam that Gabriel was not only okay with him being blind, but was perfectly willing to make adjustments for it, and he felt the last of his apprehension fading. He ran his thumb over Gabriel’s lips before leaning down for a soft kiss, feeling Gabriel sigh as he melted into it. It was short and chaste and sweet. Everything a first kiss should be. “Thank you,” Sam said in almost a whisper. Gabriel didn’t know what to say, and knowing that Sam couldn’t see the expression on his face, he reached up a hand to brush sweetly across Sam’s cheek in response. “I’ll show you to the spare room,” Sam offered, nervous about whether Gabriel would take him up on it. He wasn’t anywhere near ready to share a bed with a man he’d just met, soulmate or not, but he did want him close. He wasn’t going to make his soulmate sleep at a hotel. 

“Okay,” Gabriel said with a grin, realizing that everything was going to work out just fine as he placed a hand on Sam’s back letting him know that he was there and ready and Sam led him to a furnished bedroom that looked like it hadn’t been lived in. 

“I’ll let you get unpacked,” Sam said, feeling a hand squeeze his own in response. 

As he was left alone in the rather nice spare bedroom, Gabriel took a deep breath. He didn’t know what the hell was wrong with him. He had never been at such a loss for words in his life. He pulled the clothes out of his bag and placed them in the drawers, and hung up the suit he’d brought, in case he needed it. He put his books on the bedside table to finish later, and his bag in the closet where it would be out of the way if Sam came in. It was a rather good thing that he wasn’t a slob, he grinned at the thought. That would be a nightmare for them both. That done he took a few more deep breaths to steady himself and get himself prepared to actually speak to the man before he headed back out. 

Gabriel saw Sam’s head tilt when he came into the room and assumed that he’d heard his footsteps, but still wanted to announce himself anyway. “Hey, Sam.”

Sam turned to him and grinned. “Come sit down,” he offered, and he felt the cushion next to him dip. 

“What are you reading?” Gabriel asked curiously recognizing the braille but having no idea what any of it said. 

“Lord of the Rings,” Sam told him. “The Two Towers.” He slid an arm around behind Gabriel and his smile widened when his soulmate leaned into his side and put his head on his shoulder. He could feel Gabriel’s grin against his shoulder. 

“Can I feel?” Gabriel asked curiously, and Sam nodded. Gabriel reached over and ran his fingers softly over the pages of the book. “That’s gonna take a lot of practice,” he said with a chuckle. 

Sam couldn’t help but turn and kiss him again at the implication that he intended to learn braille, and once again, Gabriel melted into it, bringing his hand up to caress Sam’s cheek. Still neither of them moved to deepen it and it stayed short and sweet. “You know you don’t have to,” Sam told him, wanting to make that clear. 

“Of course, I don’t HAVE to,” Gabriel said as though it should be obvious. “But I want to see the world the way you do.” When he noticed the tears forming in Sam’s eyes, he figured he’d lighten the mood. “Besides, how else could I leave you dirty notes?” Sam laughed loudly at that and pulled Gabriel closer. Gabriel was struck with how beautiful Sam’s laugh was, and resolved to hear it as much as humanly possible. 

“I’ll be right back,” Sam told him, getting up and going into what Gabriel assumed was his room for a moment before returning with a large thick book. He sat back on the couch, wrapping his arm back around Gabriel and held it out to him. “This is my old braille primer. It’s how I learned.” He figured that teaching him something new would be a good way to get to know his soulmate, and see how serious he was about all this. 

Sam got down to teaching Gabriel to read, amid much laughter as Gabriel struggled with it, but thankfully they both found it more amusing than frustrating. “My brother, Dean, says it helps when he closes his eyes,” Sam suggested after a little while. “He said the look of it kept distracting him from the feel.”

“Okay. I’ll try that,” Gabriel said, and he did find it much easier. “So, your brother learned braille?” he asked trying to make conversation. 

“No. He tried for a while, but gave up on it pretty quickly,” Sam told him. “He’s not the best at following through on that kind of stuff.” He wanted to make it clear that he didn’t mind if Gabriel decided not to follow through either. 

Gabriel figured that out, but he wasn’t about to give up. “Well one thing you’ll soon learn about me, Sammy is that once I set my mind on something, I never give up.” He snuggled closer to Sam’s side with that comment, making it known that he wasn’t just talking about the braille and Sam smiled as he leaned his head against Gabriel’s. He got the message loud and clear.


End file.
